Two local athletes headed to National High School Rodeo finals
Laurel Highlands junior Madison Festa will compete in barrel racing at the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyo., July 17-23.
Uniontown High School junior Grant Smalley will compete in the tie-down roping competition at the National High School Finals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyo., July 17-23.
?Like many athletes, Grant Smalley and Madison Festa hope to earn athletic scholarships for college.
To achieve their dreams, the teens will head west, where they hope to draw the attention of college scouts at the 63rd annual National High School Finals Rodeo July 17-23 in Gillette, Wyo.
The NHSFR is the world’s largest rodeo, featuring more than 1,500 contestants from the U.S., Canada and Australia.
As members of the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo team, Smalley, a senior at Laurel Highlands, and Festa, a senior at Uniontown, will compete in barrel racing and tie-down roping, respectively.
“For us in this sport, this is like playing for the state title in football or basketball,” said Smalley. “We have a chance to really make a mark and get some offers.”
To compete in the NHSFR, candidates must earn a spot on the state team’s roster, which requires a top four overall finish in a 22-rodeo season.
Smalley finished third in tie-down roping, the event he began his rodeo career with.
“My family has always owned horses, and I wanted to do something athletic, so my family suggested rodeo,” said Smalley. “I began participating in tie-down roping in seventh grade, and in eighth I qualified for the Junior High National Final Rodeo in New Mexico, where I was named rookie of the year.”
Considering the unique relationship between the horse and the rider in the event, Smalley plans on taking two quarter horses — a 12-year-old named Cotton and a 10-year-old named Ghost — with him to the NHSFR.
“I’ll use primarily Ghost in the event,” said Smalley, whose best time is 9.1. “I like this event the most because the horse is everything in it. There is no one else to depend on, so I’ve had to invest a lot of time finding the best horses for this event.”
After finishing 49th out of 169 competitors in last year’s NHSFR, Smalley looks to finish in the final round.
In addition to the NHSFR, Smalley had top 10 finishes in tie-down and breakaway roping at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio, a 2008 reserve and state finals champion in chute dogging, and a 2009 champion and reserve champion un patea calf ropping.
He also qualified for AQHA’s Youth World Show.
Festa is also excited about competing in the NHSFR after clinching the third spot on the high school team.
Besides the competition she will be facing, Festa remarked that additional challenges will come from the arena itself.
“You never know what you are going to face,” said Festa, whose best time is 15.2 seconds. “Each field is different in terms of distances, track conditions, etc. You need to be prepared.”
While aware of the competition she will face, Festa said her goals were to, “have fun and to finish in the top of the group with a time of a between 15 and 16 seconds.”
First introduced to rodeo when she was 10-years-old, Festa has been immersed since.
“I had taken horse riding lessons when I was young and the parents of one of the people I took lessons with encouraged me to participate (in rodeo),” said Festa. “One of the parents, Joey Hull, has helped me a great deal to improve. I gradually improved, and in sixth and seventh grade I qualified for the Junior High Nationals Final Rodeo and competed in New Mexico.”
Devoted to practice, Festa trains five or six days a week at her outdoor arena in Ohioplye with her quarter horse, Ivy.
The practice has paid off, as Festa was a champion in barrel racing at the Pennsylvania Youth Rodeo Association, a reserve barrel racing and pole bending champion at the Pennsylvania High School Rodeo Association and finished fourth in pole bending at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in Columbus, Ohio.
She also competes in breakaway roping.